Elusive // The Weasley Twins

1. Three Years Later

Three Years Later

Using the scrunchie on her wrist, Cosette loosely tied up her hair before stepping up to her fireplace. The bag of floo powder was hanging from a hook poorly screwed into the wall and she eyed it hesitantly.

She was shaking one hand energetically, trying to work herself up to reaching over and actually grabbing the floo powder. Once she grabbed it, she'd be fine, probably. The hard part was bringing herself to.

In her other hand, Cosette held a letter folded in thirds addressed to her. It had come by owl nearly eight days ago but when she recognized the owl as Errol, belonging to the Weasley family, she refused to open it.

That was, until this morning.

Maybe it was because they were coming up on that date and it wasn't unpeculiar for one of the Weasley's to send her something annually around this time. It was possible that curiosity had gotten the better of Cosette for once and she wanted to know what any of them could possibly think to say to her.

Or it could have had something to do with the fact that when passing the mirror in the hallway earlier, the small photograph tucked into the frame had fallen to the floor. When she picked it up to slide it back into place, it was hard to stare at it for longer than a few seconds.

Either or, Cosette was tired of letting yet another letter end up in the trash so she tore it open.

Cosette,

I hope you're well. I understand that you've asked my family for a little bit of time and space and over the years, we've respected that. I only wanted to reach out now to inform you that mum and I are finally going to be going through his belongings next saturday. All of us are planning to be there (even Perc) and I wanted to extend the invitation to you as you're just as much a part of this family.

I hope to see you soon, I'm sure there are a few things of his he would want you to have.

Love always,

George

After reading the letter, Cosette glanced at the calendar on the wall and realized what the date was. After the funeral, she had no desire to visit the Burrow. She couldn't bring herself to see his family. Cosette didn't have the strength to act as though she had moved past his death and continue on having normal relationships with the Weasley's.

But it had been almost three years. Even she knew that she couldn't avoid them forever.

So there Cosette stood in front of the fireplace, trying to give herself words of encouragement until she finally snatched the bag off the hook and grabbed a handful of the powder.

"Let's go Setty," She whispered to herself. "You want to see them. You miss them. They probably miss you too so just throw the goddamn powder."

But she didn't. Cosette used the back of her hand to wipe away loose strands of hair falling into her face as she took a deep breath. Her arms felt weak, but it was nothing compared to how much her knees were trembling.

Why was this so hard?

Cosette felt a sense of dread wash over her as the powder fell from her grip, along with the bag and her letter. Defeated, she knelt down in front of the fireplace and thought about how maybe she'd try again later in the day.

She sighed loudly, pressing her tongue against her cheek and did her best to not let the memories attack her mind but it was difficult seeing as everything Cosette did reminded her of Fred. Even fucking floo powder.